Improvement in presses for pressing gunpowder



L. Du PONT.

Gunpowder Press.

No. 50.568. Patented Oct. 24, 1865.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAMMOTDU PONT, OF WILMINGTON, DELAVARE.

Specitieatiou forming part of Letters Patent No. 50.568, dated October24, 1865.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAMMOT DU PoN'r, of Wilmington, in the county of NewCastle and State of Delaware, have invented a new and usefulImprovement-viz., in the use of Horizontal Presses for OompressingGunpowder into Cakes; and I do hereby declare the fol.

lowing` to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 represents a top plan of a pressadapted to the purpose of horizontal compression. Fig. 2 represents aside elevation of the same Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal sectiontaken vertically through the press, and its appliances. Fig. 4represents detached the gage by which the plates are set in the press toform the separate boxes in which the powder-dust is placed to becompressed into sepa rate cakes preparatory to its grauulation.

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures,denote like parts of the press and its appliances in all the drawings.

The mode heretofore practiced of pressing gunpowder into cakes was byvertical pressure applied to a pile of boxes or gages lled with thepowder-dust and built up as follows: First a plate or lay-board was laiddown in a horizontalposition. Onthiswasspreadalinen cloth or otherfabric, and upon this was placed a wooden frame or gage into which thepowder-dust was placed until full, and then evenly smoothed or spreaddown. The gage was then removed and another cloth laid on, and on this aplate of metal, wood, or other substance was laid, then another cloth,and then another layer of powder-dust in another frame or gage,

which latter was removed as above, and so on until a sufcient height orpile was obtained to be submitted to vertical pressure, and when pressedthe plates and cloth were removed and the powder taken out in cakes orslates for granulation. This processinvolved much time and manymanipulations, which I avoid by my plan of horizontal pressure, and thusvery much facilitate the process of compression.

My invention consists in applying the pressure horizontally, by whichmeans I obviate the tedious process of building up the pile, as will beexplained.

To enable others killed in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same by reference to the drawingsaccompanyingthisspecitication,first premisin g that I do not conine myinvention to the use ot' the speeial'press herein described andrepresented, nor to the particular plan shown of applying the power, asthis latter may be done by steam, hydraulic, or any other well-knownpower; and so long as horizontal pressure is applied' to the powder-dustI would claim it as involved in my invention.

The press herein represented is composed ot' a permanent bottom frame,A, and substantial ends or heads B aflixed thereto, with through boltsor rods O passing through said ends to hold them against the stra'in ofthe pressure.

In the projecting ends of the cross-ties that compose a part of thebottom frame, A, are made suitable mortises to receive the tenons of thevertical side posts, D, which latter are tied at their top by yokes E,passing across the top of the press, which yokes are furnished withmortises to take over the tenons made on top of said side posts, D. Theobject in so arranging the side posts, D, and the yokes or top ties, E,is that the press may be loosened up to readily remove the pressed cakesor slates from the boxor trough ot' the press.

There is a follower, F, that works in the box ot' the press, which, asherein represented, is operated by 'a screw, G, and hand wheel H, butwhich, as before intimated, may be run up and back by steam, hydraulic,or any other pressure usually applied to presses of any kind.

The box of the press is formed by a bottom board or plank, I, and sideboards or plank, J, and by one of the heads B and the follower or platenF, which together form tive sides of the box, the sixth or top sidebeing open, and not requiring a cover.

The sides J should be removable or detachable, so as to loosen up thepress when the cakes are to be taken out, and may be removed with thevertical posts D, being united or fastened to them.

The wedges a a, shown to the right and left of Fig. 2, are designed fordefining or holding' the box at the proper width during the process ofiilling it.

c c c, &c., represent the vertical plates interposed between or formingthe several chambers or spaces into which the powder-dust is placed.These plates are properlyspaced and arranged by a comb or gage-bar, b,separately shown in Fig. et, as follows: The comb or gage is composedot' a horizontal bar, d, that may lie upon the ends or heads ofthepress, and of teeth or bars e, that project into the box of the press.The spaces f, between the teeth or bars e, are just of sufticient widthto receive and hold the plates c in their properlyspaced position-lengthwise ofthe box-the teeth or bars e defining the spaces orcompartments into which the powderdust is placed. By this comb or gage bthe plates are readily placed and retained in their positions, and whenthe spaces between them are filled with the powder-dust, which isreadily done, the gage may be removed, the yokes or ties E put in place,and the pressure applied, thus very much facilitating the placing ot'the plates and the powder-dust between without the tedious process otbuilding,r up a pile seriatim, as in the vertical presses as hithertoused.

